Bread

At the risk of sounding like I do nothing in Beirut but eat, I wanted to comment again on how impressive the local and organic food situation is here. Between the Souk El Tayeb on Saturdays, the "Healthy Basket" Thursday sales of organic produce and dairy from AUB's agriculture projects, and a great little restaurant called Auntie Salwah's, it is wonderfully easy to eat fresh, local, organic foods in season.
 
As compensation for my pedestrian, bagel-centric weekday diet, I had takeout from Auntie Salwah's for lunch today. At Auntie's there is usually one meat dish and several vegitarian choices. My favorite is to get a plate full of four or five different vegetarian dishes. Today's options included roast cauliflower, a lentil and rice salad with carmelized onions on top, roasted eggplant, some sort of tomato and garbanzo bean dish, and stuffed grape leaves. At the counter, I just pointed at the things I wanted and one of Auntie's workers scooped them into a container for me, garnished it all with a giant radish, and added a few pieces of flatbread. It was easily enough for two people, and only cost about $5.50. There were flyers at the counter about diabetes awareness, and the restaurant doesn't allow smoking, which is unusual here.
 
In other food news, I walked down to the bakery this morning to get a week's supply of bagels and saw a new book for sale on the counter. I've been trying not to accumulate too many books while I'm here, but this one I couldn't resist. It's called "From 'Akkar to 'Amel: Lebanon's Slow Food Trail." The blurb on the jacket reads: "Join us on a fabulous trip to discover Lebanon's traditional foods. From the volcanic plateau of 'Akkar to the rolling hills of 'Amel, through the snow-capped mountains of Lebanon and the fertile Biqa' plain, this book offers a unique opportunity to explore Lebanon through its people, land and food." Well! All I can say is that I'm really eager to get out of the city a little bit and see some of the countryside where all this amazing food is grown.
 
The book contains several intriguing recipes, including one for a flatbread called "mishtah el jreesh" that is traditional to south Lebanon. The book says: "The name 'mishtah' derives from the Arabic word 'ishtah' or 'to flatten' and refers to the characteristic flatness of the bread." "Jreesh" is cracked soft wheat. The recipe caught my eye because of its association with the Women's Cooperative of south Lebanon. In the wake of the heavy Israeli bombing of south Lebanon in 2006, a group of twenty women got together to try to use their skills to salvage a little of their region's destroyed economy. With the help of an AUB-sponsored relief project, they now sell their mishtah el jreesh at the Souk el Tayeb and Healthy Basket. If anyone wants the recipe, just let me know--you can make it yourself and think of those women baking traditional bread in their bomb-ravaged village.